Emmy Catch-Up: Pen15

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year. 

Pen15: Season 2, Episode 1 “Pool” (B-)

I saw two episodes of this season from season one – the pilot and the installment that earned a writing nomination last year – and I put off starting this season even though I was pretty confident that it was going to crack the Best Comedy Series lineup this time around. My feelings towards it are about the same, that it’s mildly entertaining but not exactly my kind of comedy. Apparently a lot has happened since I last tuned in, namely a shared sexual experience that both Maya and Anna have been told by the impossibly cool Brandt not to tell anyone about, which of course is the opposite of what they did. It should say something, I suppose, that this is the only one of the seven episodes that were Emmy-eligible that weren’t submitted for consideration as part of its Best Comedy Series bid, which indicates that the best is likely yet to come. If there’s one thing about this show that stands out more than anything it’s that its characters like to talk, especially about the things that they’re instructed by others not to talk about, and when they’re confronted with a truth they don’t want shared, they double down and aggressively fight it. The drama of, say, not being able to go inside a house while wet is highly exaggerated here, making minimal problems seem like the biggest deal in the world. Six more episodes isn’t a huge commitment, and hopefully I’ll become more endeared to a show a lot of people really like by the end of it.

What I’m Watching: Shrill

Shrill: Season 1, Episode 4 “Pool” (B+)

So much for Annie’s overnight guest being a big deal, since Fran said that her brother had already spilled the beans before Annie got around to mentioning it to her. It’s good to see that Fran is trying to get Annie off of Ryan, refusing to let him be talked about in the house, and good for Annie for standing up for herself when he did track her down at work and letting him know that she slept with someone else. Part of this show feels like it’s really true to the characters it’s representing, while some of them seem like caricatures expressly designed not to take themselves or anyone else seriously. That came into play in an important way here when Gabe called Annie out on her physical fitness by mandating forced fun and outdoor activities for the office before shaming her for being late. That miserable interaction, which launched Annie into a major tirade and then inspired her to post an article that may well get her fired, was constructively minimized by her overwhelmingly positive experience at the Fat Babe Pool Party. Fran’s obsession with the woman putting it on didn’t compare to the way that Annie felt being there, so excited to talk to a designer about great plus-size clothes and free to swim, dance, or do whatever she felt without feeling judged. I really like seeing that side of Annie, and I hope that the fallout from her unauthorized article won’t cause her to doubt the worth of what she wrote.